Alice's Restaurant

by phil
(AZ)

I lived in Stockbridge, MA many years and according to the Rockwell Museum on Main St the police officer in the painting is Officer Obanhein, later 'Chief Obie', made famous in the Arlo Guthrie song Alice's Restaurant. Further the painting is of a scene inside Alice's Restaurant, the original location down behind one of the store fronts on Main Street, I can't remember which. The story goes that the Stockbridge Elders didn't like the kind of hippie-dippie crowd her restaurant attracted and kicked her out of town, and she moved to a neighboring town. The soda jerk behind the counter was the father of a schoolpal of mine, a Mr. Barrett. I don't remember who the little boy was, but he was a local kid.